More Beauty from the Ice Storm

On Saturday night, my mind was going crazy from all the beauty I saw. I couldn’t sleep. The moon was full and bright. Visions of what I might see were before me. I decided to get up before dawn and stomp around the hills. I wanted to see what the beautiful icy vistas would like at sunrise. I left in the dark. I drove up our hill and then down and around our road. Around the big bend, here is the scene at dawn. The blueness of the light was amazing.

Across the road, there is a stately apple tree that our sheep have spent many an afternoon under hiding from the sun.

Up the road on East Hill, the sun was beginning to come up from behind the horizon.

It was 15 degrees and every little stalk of grass was covered with a thick coating of ice.

I was the only one around - I still can't believe my fortune to have been there to see all this beauty.

On that side of town, everyone was hunkered down, trying to keep warm in their cold houses. People here are used to this kind of thing. Almost everyone has a wood stove so keeping warm isn't a problem. Cooking - just stick it in a cast iron pot on top of the stove. Let it simmer and supper will be done in about three hours. Country people have had to be resourceful before and they know how to survive without power for days - even if it isn't pleasant.

The sun started to rise higher in the sky and the light began to change.

These photos look so peaceful. Once I got used to the terrain and ice and taking care not to slip and hurt myself, I started to listen. I heard the ice falling as the wind rustled the trees - it was a a lovely tinkling sound. I had a brief moment when I wished I was a sound person with a tape recorder. As the folks started to wake up, I started to hear other noises - they weren't as pretty as tinkling ice. They were the roar of generators and chain saws. No more peace, but still alot of beauty.


By the time I left at 9:00 a.m., the sun was high in the sky. The road looked like this. I was pretty frozen but satisfied with myself for getting up so early on a Sunday. Thank goodness for wool socks, coat, hat, scarf, and mittens.